


The Devil

by theJuniorRoyals



Series: The Hanged Man [2]
Category: SEVENTEEN (Band)
Genre: Alternate Universe - Criminals, Detectives, Fugitives, M/M, Murder Mystery, Sequel, i have nothing else to tag uhh, seokmin has officially lost his morals
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2017-10-22
Updated: 2017-10-22
Packaged: 2019-01-21 09:39:27
Rating: Mature
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 16,029
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/12454641
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/theJuniorRoyals/pseuds/theJuniorRoyals
Summary: 'The Devil' tarot card definition: [The Devil] is a card about bondage but often this bondage is metaphoric and internal. With this card you are called to look beyond superficial appearances and to go deeper into the truth and meaning of a situation. You also are asked to remember that when you're feeling restrained you nearly always hold the keys to your own freedom.(Investigator!Seokmin loses his morals in the maze of loving Joshua Hong.)





	The Devil

**Author's Note:**

> [description via psychic-revelation.com]
> 
> THIS IS A SEQUEL! PLEASE READ THE FIRST PART IF YOU HAVE NOT ALREADY IT IS CRUCIAL YOU KNOW WHATS GOING ON!
> 
> it is finally here i am so sorry for the long wait i just kept on falling into pits of writers block and self hatred but i managed to bust this monster out so... yeah! seungcheol stans, don't hate me once u get to the end, he doesnt die but, i never really disclosed what does happen to him. oh well  
> please read and enjoy and comment thank u all for loving and supporting the first part you all left lovely comments thank u guys ok go read bye

It had been nothing but the same routine in the painstakingly long time it took for Seokmin to have another lead in his case. Not an official case, of course. Why would it be official? We’ll get back to that in a minute.

Day after day, it had been wake up, get dressed, go to work, sit at work shuffling through files that he had no energy to delve himself into, go home. It was only a few weeks, but those weeks felt like years. The couple of days that happened a few weeks ago, he can say they changed his life. Work had no more purpose than it did before he got that one case, and when he sits in his desk during rain or shine, he always thinks about it. Always.

Joshua never left his mind. He was haunted by the man that seemed to have it all but wanted what little Seokmin could give him. Joshua Hong was the man who had everyone wrapped around his finger, yet he was wrapped around theirs, too. Joshua, quite possibly, may have been a figment of Seokmin’s imagination, but he was crudely denied of that possibility with the harsh, stinging memory of Joshua’s lips on his, and standing in the cold rain the morning after.

Back to the case. It was not official. The case was dropped when Joshua and his team disappeared off the face of the Earth, not to be seen or heard by anyone. Seokmin, not that he would say it out loud, felt empty inside. The morning when he got up and realized he didn’t need to go to the Hong residence was when he felt the gaping cavity in his heart, one that he wishes he could explain the meaning of.

He was not in love with Joshua. He was sure of that if not anything else. Seokmin was not in love with him, though his habits of staying up into the hours of the morning thinking about the way his fingers felt on his skin, and grasping it himself as if it would trap the sensation there forever would say otherwise.

The case was merely mental, he had kept a mental file of all things that he thought had to do with Joshua and his traces, but in the end, he was only disappointing himself. He was so desperate to find something that he could throw into those mental files but have it classified under, ‘Real, Very Real Evidence that Joshua Hong is back’. He wasn’t able to get that lead until he got a box on his porch with no return address.

It was Saturday. The sky was overcast but there was no rain, and the wind was blowing a cool breeze, pushing dead leaves along the sidewalk. He looked around for a minute. There was no mailman, no truck that could have dropped this off, directly to his door none the less. His complex dropped all packages off in the main building, so for him to get one personally delivered to his door was weird.

There was no knock, there was no noise outside except for the scratching of the leaves on the pavement and kids’ screams from the pool. There was no one even outside, and this leads him to think that this had been here for a while. He carefully lifts the package, it felt light in his hands, like nothing was inside at all. He slowly walks inside and sets the package down on his coffee table after kicking the door shut.

Seokmin sat in front of it, chin in his hands just staring at it. The handwriting was different, no one he knew. He had never seen this handwriting before. It was dainty, and scribbled quickly, like it was the nondominant hand that was used. Addressed to Mr. Seokmin Lee at apartment complex 003, apartment number 45. That was all that was on the box.

He turned it over carefully, so as not to set off anything dangerous that may have been inside. The top flap was sealed with clear packing tape, and the only thing that stood out was the glint of the gloss on the tape and the black marker on the side.

It couldn’t have been bigger than a shoebox. It was a rectangular cardboard box that felt weightless and came from a mystery sender, and though Seokmin had every right (and red flag) to bring it to the station to make sure it wasn’t a bomb, he opened it.

He grabbed the letter opener from the kitchen and padded back to the couch. He held it sideways, the sharp end of the opener directed to the seal and punctured it, then pulled back. He ripped the sides and placed the opener on the table.

A shock? No; a surprise? Not even that. More than that. Ten levels more than that.

When he pulled back both flaps at the same time, he needed no less than one second to know, and he gasped sharply and stood in an instant, hands pulled back from the box in a surrender to the inanimate object. There, the box sat opened, staring at him, heart thumping in his chest and blood racing in his veins.

He didn’t know what to think. He couldn’t think at all. Well, he couldn’t think except for the one thing that came to mind, letting a slight grin grace his features, so small, he felt like it wasn’t there at all.

In the box, neatly folded, laid the robe Joshua Hong was wearing the last time Seokmin had ever seen him.

He almost didn’t want to touch it, afraid it would fall apart in his hands yet touching it was all he wanted to do, hopeful it might smell like Joshua, hoping it could take him back.

Against the former thought, he pinched the mesh of the shoulders between his thumb and index finger and lifted it, holding it at arm’s length in both hands. The red cloth was silky and rough at the same time, the black feathers were worn down as if being stuffed in the box made them lose their volume, and the smell wafting off of it made Seokmin’s knees weak. Holding it at full length brought him back to that moment, train so long the end was still in the box.

He was not graceful in his movements when he ripped the rest of the robe out from the box and rushed it to his bedroom, threw it down on his bed and went back into the living room, ready to study the handwriting and try to piece everything together. The box sat toppled on its side from the force of the quick movements, and Seokmin noticed a white piece of paper sitting at the bottom, and he rushed over.

He tore the paper out and upon reading it, his mouth went dry. The same handwriting, he had no evidence it was Joshua’s but he wanted to believe that so bad, three little words.

_Wait for me._

It was that day that had Seokmin on his toes for the rest of the week. He feels like he could do all the waiting in the world for Joshua, yet all this waiting is too long, and he needs something else now. At his desk, he knew he was waiting for nothing but sat quietly, as if Joshua himself was going to walk through his door.

He tried to deny the fact that he was nervous. He tried to tell himself he was not at all excited. Excited for the inevitable. Joshua was after him, he knew that much. Joshua was going to find him; how ever he manages to do so, and Seokmin was ready. He was ready, as much as he didn’t want to admit it.

The robe, well, he never moved it. He never touched it, even. It stayed in its current position of hanging from a hanger on his closet door, there and open for him to see every day and every night. The red of the cloth burned into his memory, all he sees every time he closes his eyes. He hasn’t touched it since he hung it, but he remembers how the feathers are soft, he remembers feeling it on his fingertips along with smooth skin, trailing further upwards, feeling the feathers on his collarbones.

He waits for something to happen next. At this point, it feels like waiting is all he knows.

And then it does happen. Not huge, but it’s also not nothing.

It happens in the form of another box. Very small, this time, no taller than a soda can. He didn’t hesitate to pick it up when he came home from work, climbing the steps to his floor and turning the corner, his heart stopped when he spotted it. He dropped his suitcase and knelt, trading the leather handles for the cardboard instead. It wasn’t heavy, but had some weight, more than the robe did. He stood and picked his briefcase back up, unlocked his door and stalked into his room.

Unlike last time., he wasted no time in getting the tape off of the seal, but not before admiring the same scrawl of his name and address in black marker.

He was surprised, and a little confused when he pulled out a glass jar. A glass jar full of cologne, he gathered from the label. It was octangular, with longer sides to represent a rectangle and the glass itself was blue; through it Seokmin could easily see that three quarters of the bottle had been emptied already.

He opened it, he brought the dispenser up to his nose and didn’t bother to pretend to be shocked this time. A smile bloomed on his face, and he let it stay there. The bottle was now down by his lap where his arms had given up.

Joshua was slowly uncovering himself, uncovering himself in such a way that he would never be seen.

The smell penetrated his senses, and now every time he blinked, he was back at the house, in his room, this was the only thing he could smell.

Now, more than ever, he wished that Joshua would show himself. He wished that Joshua would come out of hiding and come to Seokmin for whatever he wanted him for. Seokmin so desperately wanted to see Joshua again, he was done denying it. He wanted more of a sign. More than a piece of memorabilia for him to hang on his closet door and spray his neck with, more than a written paper with a few words, more than inconspicuous packages at his doorstep, he needed Joshua Hong himself. Desperately.

The cologne was either just something to put Seokmin’s urges at bay, or it was a decoy. After that, there was silence. There was the rustling of leaves outside his door with no box. There was the cool air of impending fall with no jackets. There was him in his car at 10PM riding down into the rich neighborhoods of the town, by the Hong household.

He sat there, parked on the street with his window rolled down and car turned off. He should have been weirded out. He should have been freaked out by the fact that a murder took place here, that he was in a room with that same murderer. He should have had shivers running down his spine with terror, unbelievable terror that the man who murdered his own husband in this very house was after him.

Instead, the only shivers down his spine that he got were of excitement. Anticipation.

The house was dark. He assumed no one took care of it anymore. It still looked expensive as ever even when the garden boy was missing to pull the weeds and tend to the rose bushes. Knowing what went on here, though, that made Seokmin feel like there was more to this house than he could see from the curb.

Some part of him misses being in this house. Some part of him wishes that he could roll up to the curb in the morning and knock on the door, and Seungcheol, or maybe even Joshua himself would open the door if he was lucky. Maybe he could pretend there was no case he was investigating. Maybe he would take up all of Joshua’s offers. Maybe he wouldn’t run away this time.

His eyes were opened and electricity was sent through his veins the very next morning.

But, he soon found it was for all the wrong reasons.

His chief instructed everyone in their department about a meeting that was about to go on and it was mandatory, especially for Seokmin (Chief’s words). Putting down his coffee and stretching his limbs from staying stationary for far too long, he headed to the meeting room, where almost everyone was gathered.

He claimed his seat near the back corner, but not directly in the corner, and waited for the chief to start talking.

“We have been getting signals from outside sources that one of our good friends may be showing up in the spotlight again, ladies and gentlemen.” He paced back and forth, to which Seokmin got tired of watching very quickly. He slapped a stack of papers down on the table. “Unfortunately, the head of the case had not been successful last time,” Seokmin caught his eye, and noticed a few heads turn towards him. His stomach clenched. He knew what was coming. “And it just so happens that Jisoo Hong and his servants might be back on our radar.”

Unbelievable. That was what went through his head after those words came out of his mouth. At the same time, while it was unbelievable, it was undeniably believable, too. After the cologne, and the robe, and the note under the robe, Seokmin knew Joshua was going to show himself soon enough. He never thought it would be like this, though.

“We had a couple of our highly skilled detectives search the files multiple times, run DNA scans of potential items of murder in the house, of Yejun Hong’s body before they stopped doing the autopsy, and interview many of his acquaintances and only one path could have been followed. This is the path that was abandoned, and claimed inaccurate,” He walked around the table and clapped Seokmin on the shoulder. “By one of our lead detectives.”

Seokmin avoided the eyes of everyone. He couldn’t look up, not now. He couldn’t face the questions that were to come.

“Even though it was claimed by you, Mr. Lee, that there was simply not enough evidence to prove that anyone in the house committed homicide, let’s not forget the ransom note that we got the morning that that everyone in that house disappeared. A note that told us exactly how Jisoo Hong managed to kill him, and that he did in fact murder him. If all the signs point to right, we could get him this time. And lucky for us, they might just be coming back around.”

Now that had him on edge. If his chief was right, which, is most likely probable, since he did honestly forget about that note, that means that Joshua would be coming to Seokmin sooner than he thought. If his chief was wrong, then he might be waiting weeks more to see him again.

The next morning, it was raining. Not the kind of rain that plants would bask in because it’s a drink after a small dry period, or the kind of rain that was cool and refreshing because the air was hot. It was downpour, cold air that chilled Seokmin’s skin as soon as he threw the covers off his body. There was a hot shower, hot coffee, there was hard tapping of water on his windowsills, there was a manila folder at his doorstep. He did not hesitate at all to bring it in.

The coffee was forgotten on the counter as he mercilessly ripped the folder, pulling out the single sheet that resided in there, and he almost thinks that nothing at all would have been better than this.

_A little bit longer._

The ride to work was anxious. He wished he knew exactly how much longer Joshua wanted him to wait. He wished he knew exactly how long, hours, minutes, seconds, it would be before he got to see him again. Where would he see him? At his house? Would he find an address? Would Joshua show up at work in disguise? Seokmin had many questions that he knew would never get answered.

Commotion greeted him at the office.

“We need someone to take this case, damnit, but no one wants to do a wild goose chase for this fucker!” His chief hollered.

“S-sir, we don’t even know if he really has returned, and if he did, the whole ensemble is probably not with him.” His assistant cowered.

Seokmin strode forward. “I’ll take it!”

His chief turned, the look of exasperation still painted on his face. “No offense, Mr. Lee, but you let us down with the first go of this. I can’t let you have it again to come back and tell us that no one killed him.”

“Sir, there was not enough evidence. No one killed him in that house, I swear by it.” He schooled his expression into one he learned when he was just a kid, one to make him look trustworthy. It has yet to let him down. “There may be new clues to uncover. There might be a new path that’s opened with the return of them. I won’t let you down, unless the killer is hiding in plain sight, and we go right by him.” Which, in theory, is exactly what happened.

His chief looked at his assistant, who shrugged a ‘why not?’ and clearly was the only person who still had faith in Seokmin to solve this case.

His chief thrusted a stack of files into his hands. “This is your last chance, Lee. You’re lucky I didn’t fire your ass.”

The walk back to his office took way longer than he wanted it to, the files in his hands felt like lead weights but his chest was light as a feather. The rain beating on the single slat of his office window wasn’t enough to dampen the excitement for the inevitable, which was meeting Joshua Hong all over again.

The next morning, it was still raining. There was a warmer wind this time, one that allowed Seokmin to crack the windows, there was a cup of iced coffee on his countertop, there was a knock at his door.

He was shocked by this; he hadn’t warranted anyone to come over nor had he ordered anything specific for delivery. He stood there pondering the options for all of five seconds, before his mind caught up with him, and he rushed to the door.

He threw it open, only just realizing with the gust of chilly air that his dress shirt was only half buttoned and the sleeves were rolled. The man that stood there was in black. A black hoodie sat upon drooping shoulders, head lowered, hands in pockets. Soaked to the bone, Seokmin needed no more information before he grabbed him by the arm and dragged him in.

He shut the door and flipped his hood up. Water sprayed behind him, but he couldn't care less anymore. The face he was met with made his heart leap ten feet into the air, and he couldn’t control his hands when they flew up to both sides of the man’s face to hold it gently, like he could turn around any second and never come back.

His hair was wet, falling onto his eyes and water droplets falling down his cheeks like tears. Piercing eyes unchanged with time, the smile that sat there still as cynical as the first day.

But the man’s smile told Seokmin everything his mouth didn’t need to, and it felt like the first day when he spoke.

“Miss me?”

“Like hell.”

Joshua pulled Seokmin in close for a searing kiss, a feeling that Seokmin is ashamed to say that he knew he missed. He should pull away. He should push Joshua away. He should push him far away for the sake of his job, his sanity. But he didn’t. He didn’t pull away. And he can’t seem to hate himself for it, either.

Seokmin backed away, trying to strip Joshua of his wet clothes.

“What are you doing here? How did you find me? How long were you in the rain? My God, get out of these clothes.”

Joshua only laughed and helped Seokmin remove his soaked clothes, shivering against the temperature of Seokmin’s apartment. Seokmin grabbed his hand and led him to the bathroom, telling him to wait while he grabs a towel and dry clothes for him. He only then remembered about his robe that was hanging on his closet, and almost threw it inside to avoid having to explain why it was hanging there. He went past it instead and pulled a sweatshirt, underwear and joggers.

He placed the clothes on the counter while Joshua toweled his hair dry, making it stick up in places, and Seokmin wanted to run his hands through it and smooth it out. When he stood to change, Seokmin couldn’t help the way his eyes drifted to his collarbones, sunken in and golden, the smooth complexion of his chest, trying to push away the thoughts that came with watched droplets hit the skin and race their way down to his waistline, where Seokmin’s briefs happened to fit him perfectly.

“Are you going to answer my other questions?”

“No.” Joshua simply smiled at him, and walked into his bedroom. Seokmin stood in place before rushing in after him, only once he heard Joshua’s pleasant cry upon walking in. “Woah, Seokmin! Missed me that much, huh?”

Seokmin honestly had no explanation for the robe on his closet door except for the truth, which was that he missed him. He wasn’t about to say that though. Seokmin just stared as Joshua fingered the mesh as if he was contemplating putting it on, but Seokmin almost wished he didn’t; he shamefully thinks that Joshua in his clothes looks like a whole meal.

He smiled for a second. Joshua hopped onto his bed and fell backwards, clearly enjoying the plush of his comforter. Joshua hummed, giggled, and rolled his head over to look at Seokmin. He smiled for only a second.

He suddenly realized just what was happening. He suddenly remembered the situation.

“Joshua.” Said man quirked his head. “You can’t be here.” Joshua sat up again, about to ask something, but Seokmin didn’t give him time as he spoke again. “The police are after you. They’re after you again and here you are, in my apartment, in my clothes, on my bed.”

Joshua sighed, and gave him a shy grin. “Seokmin, you act like I don’t know I’m back on their maps. You act like I didn’t do it on purpose.” Joshua stood and made his way to Seokmin, about to put his hand on his shoulder.

“What? You did it on purpose?” Seokmin got no answer. “Are you fucking kidding me, Joshua? Your ass is lucky I took the case to find you again, because if it was anyone else, they wouldn’t spare you like I had.”

“So you’re planning to save me again?” They made eye contact, and Seokmin’s chest tightened, and no words came out. He wanted to say so many things, he wanted to yell at him, to scream, he wanted to kick him out, he wanted to pull him back and make him stay. He just stared at Joshua, who was a good three inches from his face. They both said nothing. Joshua raised an eyebrow at Seokmin’s silence; at his inner feud. “What do you want?” His voice was light with the air that brushed his lips.

Seokmin shook his head lightly. “I don’t have an answer.”

Joshua said nothing, instead just directed his eyes downward to Seokmin’s attire, and back up to his face. “You’ll be late.”

Seokmin really couldn’t find it in himself to rush to work.

The morning sky never cleared up, as far as Seokmin was concerned. All day, thoughts were racing through his mind, thoughts of being caught red handed with the one person they were after, with their detective in this case. How would they react to this? First, he would probably get fired, then maybe arrested for holding someone in his house that they deemed guilty of murder.

Would he still see Joshua after this? Would he see anyone in that house after? He still doesn’t even know where the rest of Joshua’s crew is, for all he knows, they could be hiding right in plain sight.

How did Joshua find him? How did he manage to find out where he lives, send him things that came from his house that he abandoned weeks ago, and then show up inconspicuously? It was a jumble of events inside Seokmin’s head that he couldn’t seem to piece together.

He was supposed to be trained in this shit. Seokmin is supposed to be able to look at some clues, draw conclusions and, with the years he has been working in this field, most of the time, the conclusions are right.

Could he be able to lead the team down the wrong path? Could he pull something like that off? IF he was successful, the case could be dropped again, and he wouldn’t have to live in fear that an officer could show up to his door at any time and ask for a search, only to see the criminal sitting on his couch, probably half naked.

But, what now? How could he assemble a plan so concise that a team of skilled, trained police and detectives could follow it? Does a plan like that even exist?

But after that, then what? Does he live with Joshua for the rest of his life? Does he say, ‘Well I saved your ass yet again so get out of here’? Does he just forget about him?

That’s the thing. Seokmin knows he can’t do that. He’s already in way too deep at this point that if he pulled out now, the memory is going to haunt him for who knows how long. Joshua left him so suddenly, all those weeks ago. He left without a word to Seokmin, and the last words spoken between them on that fateful night was ‘Now or never.’

Now or never. Those words were very true. He doesn’t want to know what would have happened if he hadn’t succumbed to desire on that night.

Now or never. Was he so eager to see Joshua because if it didn’t happen now, it would happen never?

Now or never. Now, he was more prepared to risk his entire life to save someone who influences only a small amount of it than never.

It was still raining when he got home. Joshua was in the kitchen with a steaming mug in his hands. His dainty fingers wrapped around the ceramic delicately, and his ring clacked against it every time he lifted his finger. He had abandoned the sweatshirt, choosing to only walk around in Seokmin’s low slung joggers that showed off his faint v-line and the waistband of his underwear. Seokmin diverted his eyes.

“How was work?” Joshua asked, approaching Seokmin. Closer inspection tells Seokmin he showered recently, tendrils of wet hair cascading into his eyes, and Seokmin told himself only to stare.

Seokmin shook his head in response, as if it was an acceptable answer, and decided to ask what has been on his mind.

“I have a few questions.” He toed his shoes off and went to the bedroom, quickly discarding his button down for the sweatshirt Joshua had abandoned. He could feel Joshua’s stare on his naked back.

“Go ahead.”

“How did you do it?” Seokmin turned and faced him. He rolled up his sleeves and waited for an answer. Joshua crossed his arms.

“Do what?”

“You know, all of this! Who sent the note to the station the day you disappeared? How did you disappear? How did you get them back on your ass on purpose? How did you find me?”

Joshua smiled. “Calm down, I’ll explain everything.” He placed a hand on his shoulder. “Come,” He led Seokmin out to the kitchen. “Sit I’ll make you something?” He pulled a mug out of the cabinet as Seokmin sat down.

“How do you know where that is?” He asked, tired.

Joshua smiled crookedly and shrugged. “You’re an easy to read guy, Seokmin. You just seem like someone who has hot cocoa k-pods in the cupboard over the Keurig.”

Seokmin’s cheeks heated up but he said nothing, only waited for Joshua to start talking.

“First, who sent the note? I think, ‘how’ is the right word. I sent it the same way I sent you everything. No return address, and either very early in the morning, or very late at night, but that’s kind of the same thing. I sent it because it was all planned. I knew we would get someone to the house sooner or later. Glad it was you, and not someone who could actually put the pieces together.”

“Hey!”

“Sh. Anyway, I knew the note was the way to go. I knew after doing everything to you that I had done, which, honest, that isn’t always my true personality, it would be easy to escape. I had you convinced not to turn us in, and you didn’t. Thank you, by the way.” He stood tall, his eyes genuinely shining like he was happy he could be here and not in prison. “We ran far that night. Took the license plates off all the cars and left in the dead of night where no one would catch us. It was a pretty remote place. Stayed there for a while, until Jihoon came back to me, said he had located you.

“I was fascinated that he managed to do that, many kudos to him. I was afraid I had left you in the dark that night. Unsatisfied and frustrated, I wanted you to know that this wasn’t the end of it.

“I explained how I did the murder in that note, which wasn’t wrong, by the way, and I said all that because what’s the point of sending in a useless note? Your station is pretty thick headed, Seokmin. I’m not going to lie.” He leaned on the counter and crossed his arms. “What was next? How I got back in their plain of vision? It was a few days before I showed up here, actually.

“We were at a hotel, and we were checking out. I had Jihoon run back into the room, told the desk lady that he had left something, and got the key card back. Made an anonymous call to the station from the phone in the hotel room that he had seen the infamous Jisoo Hong running around. Quickly ended the call, came out, and we left straight after.

“As for how I found you, well, I had a hunch that when I showed up at your door you wouldn’t refuse to take me in, and lucky for me,” He leaned over the counter and locked eyes with Seokmin. “You did exactly what I thought you would.”

“What if I didn’t take you in?”

“Easy,” He replies, leaning back onto his feet and eyes away from Seokmin. “I would have gone back into hiding, and stayed there. Maybe even be a little disappointed that you didn’t take me. But I didn’t think that far ahead because, well, I know you would have.”

They stared at each other for a while. Seokmin tried eagerly to wrap it around his head that Joshua had carefully planned all of this. He tried to understand just how Joshua would have known what he would have done, how he would have reacted, when he had only known him for so long. And what if he hadn’t taken him in? What would Joshua have done then?

Seokmin knows, deep down, he would never have turned down Joshua, for anything, but he couldn’t help but to be curious as to what the man would have done had Seokmin not pulled him in earlier that day.

Seokmin bit his tongue as Joshua rounded the counter and stood behind Seokmin, hugging him from the back and brining his mouth close to Seokmin’s ear.

“You won’t abandon me this time, right?”

Seokmin, in turn, said nothing. He decided to focus on the feather light touch of Joshua’s breaths on his skin and the weight on his arms on his shoulders. He could save Joshua if he wanted. He could save himself. At the end of the day though, he knew which one he wanted more.

He turned his head towards Joshua’s own, all he could see was his nose, and the lips that were dangerously close to his skin. He opened his mouth to speak, but the words left his mind. He turned away.

The thing was, yes, in the end, he knew he couldn’t abandon Joshua. He knew he couldn’t walk away now. This man murdered his husband and made his poor servants lie for him, and who knows how much was lied about in the house. The thing that left him on the edge, was how much of his life would he have to put on the line in order to save somebody else’s.

“This isn’t like it used to be.” He felt Joshua move forward a little bit. “You can’t hide in plain sight anymore.”

Joshua hummed in his ear. Was he about to do this? Probably, yes, he was.

“If you want to stay here, we need to get the police off of your back.”

“So, you’re going to help?”

Seokmin sighed. He shouldn’t agree to this. He should easily be able to say no to Joshua, he should easily be able to turn in this murderer, but he can’t. It was like stepping in that house cast a spell on him, and he was now forever bound to the beautiful disaster that was Joshua Hong, and it was also an automatic signature on the contract that never lets Seokmin walk away.

“I don’t think my conscious gives me much of a choice.” Seokmin turned back to him.

Joshua smiled.

There was a plan. They had made a plan, technically, Joshua had, because Joshua just seemed to be really skilled in that area, and he had told Seokmin just to do as he says. He briefly wondered when Joshua became such a profound voice of reason in his life.

They would divert attention back to the old house. Whether it be through clues, or ransom notes such as the one that appeared weeks ago, Seokmin was determined to make it work.

He didn’t know what was controlling his morals in this decision. He didn’t know what was making him turn his back on the law to save someone that got in his head. He doesn’t understand it, yet at the same time, he does understand it.

Need was a strong emotion. He was aware of what someone will go through for a need. He was aware of what obstacles one could conquer of the need was strong enough to drive their morals forward. Seokmin was afraid that he had fallen into that category, of people who are controlled by their needs.

Simply just watching Joshua do anything and everything in his home, walking around barefoot and sifting through his closet, he was sure he had fallen victim to his needs.

It was like routine now, he would wake up to see Joshua beside him in his bed, which he doesn’t know when that started, but he wasn’t about to stop it, get up for work and make sure he didn’t wake Joshua in the process. And if he did wake Joshua, he would make him a cup of coffee as well.

The new day didn’t bring much excitement, it was most of what he had already seen. Sitting in his desk chair staring blankly at the wall never seemed so exciting.

He had used his valuable time to think about how to lead this faux investigation. What clues could he use to divert the police department’s attention? It would need to be fool proof. Arguably, he would need to use Joshua’s brains for help. He figured he would ask after. His coworker interrupted him.

“Seokmin, got any leads yet?”

Seokmin cocked his head and kept swiveling on his chair, nodding down to the papers strewn on the desktop.

“Unfortunately, no. I have a feeling though something will turn up soon, I’m trying my best to uncover it. I just don’t know where to start, or how.” He leaned forward. “To be honest, I have a feeling that that house really isn’t empty. There’s definitely more than meets the eye there. There’s got to be something more. I’m going to figure it out.”

His coworker laughed and pulled out the seat across from Seokmin’s desk and sat down.

“You know…” He started, leaning closer to Seokmin, about to say something he knew he wasn’t supposed to. “They don’t trust you with this one. They would rather have someone else take this one.”

Seokmin was aghast. His chief let him have this case, yet he didn’t trust him with it? The whole team didn’t trust him? “Um, why?”

He shrugged, and looked towards the door once and then back around. “They don’t want you having this one because they think you fucked the whole department over with the last one. Let the everyone at the Hong residence slip right through your fingers. Not that I am directly questioning you, but how did that become so? There was apparently no evidence at all for you to point fingers, and it was believable. I still believe you found nothing in that house, you know. But then suddenly a note appears and says everything. We go back, and they are gone. How is it possible? How could that have happened? I just don’t understand.”

“A lot of us don’t understand this case either. It seems to be a mystery as to how anything happened. How they left, how he did it.”

The man straightened, then shook his head. “He is probably a sly man, Hong. Probably one of those rich assholes who really don’t give a shit about anyone there. They were like, what, teenagers living there? Serving him? That’s messed up.” Seokmin stilled, willing himself to just sit and listen to the man rant about someone he didn’t know. “He probably left everyone in that house, like a sick man who really didn’t care about anything. What was he like, when you interviewed him?”

Seokmin breathed, thinking about how to answer. Terrifying. Electric. Seductive, a genie. “He seemed like just that. Ignorant.” He wasn’t, really. “Very in his head. Made me feel incompetent.” That part was true at least.

“Waste of space rich kid. How old was he?”

“Don’t know.”

“Looked young, though. Younger than anyone here.” He shook his head once more and stood up. “Listen Seokmin, you got this. Get that son of a bitch, dead or alive.”

Seokmin said nothing as he retreated, fury rising inside of him, he wished that the man who had just left was instead the one he had to fine dead or alive, preferably dead.

He couldn’t get it out of his head on the ride home, all of it. The whole conversation. The fact that the department didn’t trust him to take the case. Because he let Joshua slip through his fingers? Were they on to him? Seokmin was smart enough. He could have figured the case out if he really looked into it, if Joshua hadn’t gone and done something stupid.

But it wasn’t Joshua’s fault. Seokmin could have- should have- denied that easily, yet he didn’t. It wasn’t Joshua’s fault, it was Seokmin. Who else could have been to blame? Now, because Seokmin has let this man into his life, which was perfectly avoidable, he has to make a plan to hide him.

He trudged up to his door and shoved the key in the lock, secretly looking forward to seeing Joshua be doing whatever upon his arrival. Instead, he entered and saw the back of someone hunched over the coffee table, writing furiously. Only the closing of the door seemed to startle him enough to stand and face Seokmin. It was Hansol.

“Hansol? What are you doing here?”

Hansol seemed delighted to see him. Seokmin could tell he had dropped all formalities upon seeing him, as he was standing before him slackened and not ashamed at all.

“Seokmin, finally! I was beginning to think you wouldn’t show up. Joshua had me stay here while he went out and did some things.”

“Things?” Seokmin questioned while taking his shoes off and hanging his blazer. “Where are you staying? How did you get here?”

“Joshua told me not to tell you what he’s doing, but I’m just here to keep you the company that he can’t at the moment. I’m surprised you remembered me, honestly. It’s been a while.” Hansol turned back around and sat in his spot. Seokmin slowly walked in front of him and sat down on the floor as well. He had multiple papers in front of him, words he didn’t bother to read.

“You are one of the few memorable ones, honestly. You never answered my questions.”

“I told you,” Hansol made a broad gesture with his arms. “Josh wouldn’t let me tell you where he-”

“No, not that. I can try to get that out of him later.” Hansol raised his eyebrows as if to say that would be difficult. “How did you get here?”

Hansol looked up. “Jihoon.” Looked back down. Seokmin sighed.

“And what about the other question? Where are you staying, all of you?”

Hansol pursed his lips. “In a… secluded area, closer to the woods and shit. It’s like an apartment complex, except it was built only for us. Very off the maps. No one knows about it- except you, now, I guess.”

“This was built just for everyone in the house?”

Hansol laughed, then made eye contact. “Mr. Hong never necessarily knew about it. It took a long time of slowly embezzling money from Mr. Hong, and it got finished quickly with the promise that the last of the money could come quickly. That, of course, was when Josh killed him to take his money and finish up the building.”

Seokmin tilted his head. “This was planned?”

“Of course! Josh is a lot smarter than you are making him out to be, Seokmin.” Seokmin didn’t reply to that, instead just watched Hansol write away and wondering when Joshua would come home.

It was around 1AM when Joshua came home, Seokmin only woke up because of the pressure of Joshua’s hand on his shoulder. Seokmin rolled over and tried to open his eyes, but Joshua’s hand stayed persistent, and Joshua shushed him.

“Don’t get up, I’m right here.”

“Joshua?” Seokmin groaned.

“Yeah, it’s me babe.”

Babe. Seokmin was half asleep but he registered that word very well. Whatever drove Joshua to call him ‘babe’, he couldn’t argue with, and he didn’t feel entirely dissatisfied with it either.

Seokmin was in bed. He briefly remembers going to bed after Hansol told him he would be awake for a while. Now here Joshua was, about to get in bed with Seokmin, and maybe Hansol was gone, or maybe he wasn’t. Seokmin stirred and tried to adjust, but Joshua shushed him some more.

“I have work tomorrow, Joshua. What time is it?”

“1AM, and you don’t have work. It’s Saturday. Just go back to sleep.”

Seokmin laid down, and while he wished he could have slept easily, he was kept awake by the simple sounds Joshua was making next to him. Breathing so easily, like he was worried about nothing while worries was all that ran through Seokmin’s mind. The sheets crinkling under his weight and his satisfied hums when he gets comfortable. It scared Seokmin when he knew that he would die over and over again to hear these sounds every night.

He eventually did fall asleep, and when he woke up to his alarm telling him it was time for work, he wondered what Joshua’s motive to lie to him was.

It was Friday. Granted, it wasn’t Saturday like Joshua had put in his mind last night, but it was close enough. Close enough that Seokmin had a little bit of energy to start putting pieces together for his grand scheme.

Doing things like this made him trepidatious. Working this out in front of him, the physical clues here but not entirely telling the truth. The clues that will tell them the façade, when the truth was right next to Seokmin when he woke up in the morning.

He was worried someone would be on to him, but it was unlikely since he took the case.

The chief had been reluctant, Seokmin could only guess it was because he let the last case go to the trash. He can’t begin to imagine what life would be like had he turned them all in. Joshua would probably have found a way back to him, maybe have him killed.

He shook his head and leaned over his desk. The notepad in front of him was empty, the yellow pages mocking him. He shut his eyes, trying to think of something that could be done. He needed to ask Joshua, there was no way he could do this on his own.

When he got home, he couldn’t jump around, he needed to ask for assistance, even if Hansol was back to not tell him where Joshua was.

But he wasn’t. Joshua sat on the couch, mug of whatever in his hands and Seokmin’s sweater drooping off his slender shoulders. Seokmin made his way to the bedroom to first discard of the work attire, heading back out in joggers and a t-shirt, and sitting next to Joshua. Joshua leaned his head on Seokmin’s shoulder.

“Joshua…” He hummed. “I need your help.”

He felt Joshua’s shoulders rise in a giggle, and heard it slip from his lips. “I was wondering when you would ask.”

“You knew I would need help, yet didn’t offer it?” Seokmin pondered.

Joshua sat straight. He placed his mug on the coffee table and turned towards Seokmin, still leaning against him. “Yes.” He smiled. “I wanted to see how far you could get though. It was kind of your idea.”

“More yours than mine…” Seokmin mumbled.

“I didn’t come up with that master plan myself. I have geniuses on my team for a reason.” Joshua sat back to his original position.

“Wait. So, they helped you plan this whole thing out?” Seokmin looked at Joshua, who was staring at Seokmin’s jawline. When he spoke, his voice was thick with an emotion that Seokmin didn’t want to name.

“Yeah. Jihoon and Jeonghan helped me with it all. I couldn’t have done any of that myself. I’m just a college kid who married into the money.”

Seokmin stared. He couldn’t tell if Joshua was being sincere or not. He didn’t want to ask, either.

“We can help, Seokmin. They are very willing to help me.” Seokmin said nothing, Joshua moved his eyes up to Seokmin’s own and tilted his head ever so slightly before he started speaking. “Can I ask you something?” Seokmin nodded. “Are you afraid of me? What I’ve done?”

Seokmin had a million ways to answer this. He had a million ways to say, ‘Yes, I am’ and ‘No, I think it’s hot’ and ‘I don’t know, your sex appeal is crazy but you fucking murdered a guy!’. A million things to say, but one came out.

“Maybe.”

“Maybe?”

“I think I am. Sometimes. When I really think about it.” Neither of them spoke loudly, keeping the conversation within the few inches of space between them. “I don’t know what my body wants from you. I don’t think I have the physical ability to walk away at this point. But, when I really put it down to the facts, I can’t deny that there is a murderer in my house. He lives in my bed and makes me breakfast and drives my inhibitions. I don’t know what he wants, but I’m willing to find out.”

Joshua somehow got closer. He was on his knees, eye level with Seokmin, his eyes burning with a passion he had never seen from the man before. “So, tell me then.” He got even closer, he wasn’t in proportion anymore. All Seokmin could see was his skin, and felt his nose on the tip of his own. “Are you also willing to help him in exchange for anything you could ever want?”

Seokmin had a million ways to answer. Somewhere along the lines of ‘You’re crazy’ and ‘I think I need help’. A million things to say, but one came out.

“Yes.”

The days that dragged on from that point weren’t any more productive. Endless cycles of come home, go to work, see Joshua and start thinking about ways that this mad could make his life better and worse at the same time, nothing new.

He hasn’t seen Hansol since that night. He was a little worried about him, he was just a kid roped into a dangerous business that could be harmful to him, indirectly, if not direct. He almost debated asking Joshua about him. Asking Joshua to bring him around more because the kid was good company, they shared good laughs last time, and it was easy to fill the time between returning home and waking up in the morning.

Yet, Seokmin didn’t dare ask Joshua about Hansol. If something bad happened, he would surely rather not know. He is much more comfortable with not knowing anything rather than knowing too much. Especially in this case.

The morning that a detective came into his office whom he does not speak to regularly, he started to have a feeling things were picking up.

He sat down across from Seokmin, and Seokmin pretended to be nonchalant, but there were many things circling his brain as to why he was there. He stared at him with a strange intensity. Seokmin did not want to speak first, so another few seconds of silence ensued.

“What’s going on?” The detective asked, voice low.

Seokmin furrowed his brows. “I should be asking that.”

The man across from him shook his head and sighed. “The case. Are you actually doing anything to further this case?”

Seokmin turned his body fully towards him, offended. “You’re doubting my ability?”

“Kind of, yes. I don’t see any new information coming through at all. It’s like you’re just sitting around, waiting for the evidence to create itself.”

“Well, honestly, who are you to be questioning the case that you don’t have? You weren’t involved in the first part of this case so I don’t see why you’re involving yourself into this part.”

“Nothing is happening!” He leaned forward. It’s been like a week. I think something should have shown up by now. Last time, immediately after you dropped the case saying there were no leads, we got an anonymous letter telling us it was exactly who we thought, but you let it go. After that, many people are starting to doubt your position here. How could you not have put two and two together? That case practically revealed itself for you, yet here you are, making no progress still trying to catch this guy.”

Seokmin sprang forward, and slammed his fist on his desk. “Do you know what it was fucking like being in that house?” He growled at this man, no longer up to deal with anything going on at the moment. “It was suffocating. Everyone’s leading me in different directions and by the time I left every day I forgot my own damn name. That house was fucked, and I still have no idea why I was chosen. I don’t know why you have balls to say shit like that now about this case when I didn’t see you stepping up the first time.”

Seokmin leaned back in his chair, maliciously glaring at the man across from him. “I don’t see why you’re sitting here telling me how to run shit when I don’t think you would have done any better.”

“It’s simple.” The stares between them were venomous, and Seokmin suddenly had enough rage to kill. “The letter couldn’t have come from anywhere else. You didn’t even look for handwriting samples? Easily comparable. Are you kidding me? To me, it sounds like you didn’t know what you were doing. Looking for excuses about the people to cover up the fact you didn’t do shit.”

“Who are you to talk? I don’t even know you. I want to see you try and solve this case. I would have loved to see how you would have turned out after being in that house, how it feels to have a fucking murderer track you down weeks later and then the case pops up again. I took it because I knew those people in that house better than anyone else here. I was the one who sat down with them, not you, not anyone.” Seokmin stared at him for a moment longer, before scoffing and turning away. “Get out of here.” The man sat silent for another second, slowly getting up and retreating. Seokmin shook his head, and waited for the end of his work day impatiently.

“Joshua,” Seokmin called out as he stepped in the house, but his cries soon died down as he saw Joshua sitting at their table with three others, those of whom he recognized immediately.

“Seokmin, come. It’s probably time we figured this plan out.” He said with ease, laughing lightly. Seokmin walked forward, loosening his collar. “You remember them, right? Jihoon, Junhui, Jeonghan.” Seokmin nodded and looked at them individually. Jihoon looked the same. He nodded a greeting which he returned. Junhui’s face got a little leaner, his hair was no longer black but a fading lavender, Seokmin was confused by the bright color if their aim was to stay undercover. Jeonghan had his hair back in a ponytail, sitting lax in his chair.

“Of course, hard to forget.” Seokmin sat next to Joshua, and Jihoon leaned forward and started talking.

“So, a plan. I figure no one is better with something this big, and it’s better to have us help.”

“You planned out the… murder?” Seokmin questioned.

Joshua piped in. “These three were the main brains behind it. I know they would help us if we asked.” Seokmin had no doubt that Jihoon and Jeonghan were behind this. The way Jeonghan manipulated him during his interrogation drove him crazy, and if Jihoon oversaw the income, he probably could find a loophole or two in everything. He wasn’t sure about Junhui, though. He didn’t know anything else besides his Chinese background, but he wasn’t to judge when he remembered how that interrogation went, and how Jun was reading between the lines for everything Seokmin said.

“So, what are we trying to do here?” Jeonghan crossed his arms, but seemed intrigued.

“I took the case to find Joshua again. They claim he is back in town and because of the note, they ‘know’ he did it. I took the case again, because for some reason I could just tell that someone else would mistreat this case, and try to put you all in prison.”

“So, you’re saving all of our asses? What did we do, though? We can understand why you would want to save Josh, but, we didn’t do anything.” Junhui stared at him with intensity.

Seokmin was unfazed. “I guess my moral compass is broken.” He heard Joshua laugh beside him.

Everything sat still for a moment. It was raining. The only light that was on was the one above them, everyone bathed in a dewy yellow glow, downward shadows cast faux illustrations on skin canvases. The gray sky was thick and heavy, and the water droplets on Seokmin’s shoulders started to dry easily.

“What are you thinking?” Joshua inquired to Jihoon, who had his eyes cast downward, worrying his bottom lip in his teeth.

“You wanted to use the house?” Seokmin nodded. “We’ll do that. If those fools can easily believe a letter, who’s to say they won’t believe another one?”

“What will it say? It’s too obvious, and fake if you just said you are there and ready to get arrested.”

Junhui leaned forward. “Speaking in tongues.” He smiled.

“We can lead them in the wrong direction in more than one way.” Jeonghan looked over to Junhui, who nodded.

“How?” Seokmin rested his elbows on the table.

Jeonghan tapped his head with his forefinger, keeping eye contact with Seokmin. “Let them think whatever they want to.” He sat up. “Words are a weapon.”

“Jeonghan was a psychology major, did I tell you?” Joshua lightly gripped Seokmin’s bicep.

“Yeah, you did.”

“Do you have anything from the house that we wouldn’t have to go back and get?” Jihoon asked.

“The robe?” Jun butt in.

“Oh yeah, we sent the robe.”

“Wait,” Seokmin turned to Joshua. “You all sent it?”

Joshua hummed. “We had to go back to get it. We went late at night and inconspicuously, no one else from the house knows we went back. They would have wanted to come.”

“You forced everyone out?”

“We had no choice.” Jeonghan spoke. “We only took necessary clothes, devices, whatever, but we left everything too major. Took everything that could have been used to track us. We took the cars from the underground garage out, left the display ones there. Kind of just letting everyone know that we disappeared into thin air. Then I dropped off the letter, and we made pour getaway to the resort. Of sorts.”

“Underground garage?” Seokmin was getting increasingly confused with this new information. “You sent the letter? I don’t understand.”

“Listen, the three of us,” Jihoon gestured to himself, Jeonghan and Junhui. “Banded together because, honestly, when it comes down to it, we are the smartest. Not just street smart, but logic smart. Joshua told us what he wanted to do and we helped him, so technically, we are just as guilty as he is.” Jihoon adjusted his sleeves, then continued. “We had secret cars in the underground garage that Yejun barely used, because he displayed his cars out front. We took those.

“Everyone had limited items to prevent the leave from looking too intricately planned. If only a handful of things were gone, it would look exactly like what it was- we rushed them to get out. The three of us secretly got together to help Joshua and secretly went back because too many of them would be asking for many things. It would have been a mess.”

“And not to mention take way longer. It takes twelve years to run up and down those stairs once, if we had to wait for everyone, we’d be done for.” Jun shrugged.

Seokmin took a minute to process this. Process the deeper solution to things he had been pondering for weeks. Process exactly how concise this entire thing was, and how well they all pulled it off. He knew they would help him, and get him one step in the right direction.

“So, you guys can help me?”

Jeonghan smirked. “I love playing with the law. Always has been my favorite pass-time.” Joshua laughed next to him, where they both made eye contact. Underneath the shadow of the kitchen light, he saw the way Joshua’s eyes glistened. The rain was loud.

“There’s only one thing more dangerous than criminals.” Seokmin leaned back. “Smart criminals.”

The morning after, the sky still hadn’t cleared up. Seokmin woke feeling a little lighter after it all, and felt no restraints when he bound off to work the next morning, casting a quick glance to the side to see Joshua undisturbed.

His shoes on the marble tile were loud to his eardrums, a strange silence settled over the office this morning, something he never usually heard. Peering into the offices, no one was inside, and for an unsettling moment, he thought he was the only one in the building.

He was proven wrong, though, when someone came through and asked him to see the chief.

He tensed up immediately, he had a hunch about what this could possibly be about- and he wasn’t in the mood to discuss it. But, even though his conscious told him to back away, he had to go, because, he had no idea what the meeting was about unless he actually went.

His chief was sitting with his back to the door, facing the file cabinets, pulling manila folders out and putting some back in. Seokmin cleared his throat, and the chief swiveled around once he realized Seokmin was standing there.

“Seokmin, sit for a minute.” Seokmin sat while he put away the rest of his documents, already preparing for the worst.

“I just wanted to ask some questions. About this investigation.” Seokmin nodded, showing no emotion. “How is the progress like? Have there been any striking pieces of evidence?”

Seokmin breathed in deep before answering. “Nothing has stood out incredibly. I’ve been taking pieces from the interrogations that I gathered last month and trying to put them all together.”

Chief leaned forward on his desk and clasped his hands together. “We need cold, hard proof, Seokmin. Not memories from the last investigation.” Seokmin opened his mouth, but closed it when the chief started speaking again. “Is there anything you could pull up right now to show me? To prove that you have been actively working to collect evidence and to trace down our suspect?”

Seokmin sat back. He couldn’t lie, because he truthfully had nothing to show. He is suddenly aware he hadn’t thought the evidence part through very well.

“Seokmin, don’t take this as any offense but you did let the team down last time. I know you have the potential to solve a highly-sophisticated case like this, but last time you just let us down. I have doubts that with the same situation, you could do this again.” He swiveled around in his chair, not aiming towards anything, but actively avoiding looking at Seokmin. “So, I put some of my other best detectives on this case also.”

“What?” Seokmin grasped the armrests of his seat and sat on the edge. His brows were tightly furrowed and he stared at the chief in utter disbelief.

“Seokmin, I need this case to be completed as soon as possible. If you aren’t coming forward with anything to show us, to show the team, it is useless, and I needed to put other people on the case as well.”

“But you don’t even know what I was doing. I could have been in the middle of a solid piece of evidence but you didn’t even let me present it to you.”

“But that should have been done.”

“But there was nothing to show!” Seokmin raised his voice, hesitated, then cleared his throat. “Sorry. I just don’t understand why you couldn’t trust me to do this. Yes, I let it slip right by us last time, but I swear, there was nothing more I could do last time. I had nothing to base my suspicion off of. I was just as shocked as everyone else was when the murderer was revealed.”

“And we can’t let that happen again.” Seokmin sat back, avoiding eye contact. “It’s not that I think you can’t solve it. It’s that I need it done a lot faster.”

“Bitch.” Seokmin growled exasperatedly as he sat in his car later that day, so ready to be miles away from the office. He gripped the steering wheel tight.

He had drained all of his energy driving home that he needed a minute to regain himself in the parking lot of his complex, his forehead on the steering wheel and his eyes shut, breathing in deep and breathing out slowly.

Right now, he wanted Joshua. He wanted to be wrapped up in Joshua but at the same time, Seokmin’s legs were too heavy to function. His mind couldn’t connect the two, and when he tried to move, he couldn’t. His hands and feet were eternally stuck in that position, resting on the steering wheel and the gas pedal, but not any destination in mind. Only the promise of a warm embrace could move him from his seat to the front door.

“Seokmin?” Joshua’s airy voice fluttered through the room, lifting Seokmin’s mood.

“Shua…” Seokmin tried to mimic his tone, but it seemed Joshua caught on immediately. He came out to meet Seokmin at the door, concern painting his expressions. Joshua said nothing, instead embraced Seokmin in his arms which he immediately responded to.

As he hugged Joshua’s slender waist, he couldn’t help but to imagine that this was what his future would look like. His future would consist of a beautiful man with short auburn hair and multiple earrings, who would have been convicted for murder if it wasn’t for Seokmin. There it was again, the guilt of going against the law. But this time, the guilt wasn’t as heavy as it was the first few days.

Joshua raked his fingernails over Seokmin’s scalp and he sighed, leaning his head on Joshua’s shoulder. He smelled like Seokmin’s shampoo.

“Bad day?” Seokmin hummed.

“I just want to sleep.” He pushed further into Joshua’s shoulder.

“Not hungry?” Seokmin shook his head. Joshua smiled. “Let’s go to bed then.”

Seokmin had truly never had a better night’s rest. He had Joshua under his right arm, the boy cuddled up under his chin, both of their breathing merged to create the nighttime soundtrack that Seokmin had come to love. He felt as if he were floating, he was being held up by the soft cotton bedspread and comforter that hugged his body so deliciously, he could crawl deeper and deeper into the warmth it provided. Every position was a comfortable position.

He jumped and was aroused from his slumber when a series of harsh knocks pounded against his door. He tried to open his eyes first, distinguishing reality from not, and sitting completely upright when he heard it again. He panicked when he heard the unmistakable call of the police department.

“Joshua.” He tried his best to be quiet, but had to work fast before they barged in and saw him sleeping with the killer. He shook the boy, finally rousing him. “Joshua, get up. Now.” Seokmin threw his legs over the side of the bed, pulling on Joshua’s arm to get him up. Joshua seemed to wake quickly with the urgency of Seokmin’s movements.

“What? What’s happening?”

“The police are at my door. Please, Joshua, you need to hide.” Joshua stood, and looked around quickly. Another series of knocks. A threaten to break the door.

“The closet, hide quick, please, go!” He struggled to keep his panicked voice to a whisper. Joshua did as told, grabbing the red robe that hung on his door and pulled it in with him. Seokmin went to open the door and tried his best to look sleepy and disturbed.

The spared him no greeting as they marched in and flipped lights on everywhere. One officer of whom he didn’t know stood behind him and held his wrists firmly, and he was afraid he was about to be arrested. The officer never did take out handcuffs, so only then did he relax slightly.

It was nerve wracking, He wanted to speak but couldn’t; so afraid at any moment they would cuff him and come out of his bedroom with and handcuffed Joshua as well. He was so afraid he would have to spend however long in prison, afraid that he would break Joshua’s promise. He gulped relentlessly, he hoped the officer holding him back wouldn’t feel the shaking in his hands.

After what seemed like forever, heart bound to beat right out of his chest cavity, the police assembled again, and the officer let go.

“What was all this? It’s midnight!” Seokmin finally found a voice only after knowing that no one came out with his forbidden lover.

“One of the officers at the station let on that you were hiding the suspect here. Guess it was just a trick of the mouth, huh?”

“So, you can just come into my house at midnight and hold me back before explaining?” Seokmin’s heart rate finally started to slow down.

The officer who had restrained him put his hands up personal defense. “I’m sorry, we were just doing as your chief instructed. He didn’t want to wait, and especially since he thinks you haven’t been accelerating much in means of catching this person, or whatever.”

Seokmin sighed and shook his head. “Whatever. He’s not here, okay? Please, I was sleeping.” He ushered him out and promptly shut the door, waiting until they were off his floor to go and retrieve Joshua.

“Shua,” He shut the bedroom door behind him, just in case. “It’s safe.”

Joshua crawled out from the closet and let the robe hit the floor behind him. He stood there shocked, no words to say. They stared at each other, Seokmin felt his knees go weak. Seokmin walked forward and hugged his torso, Joshua could only move his arms the slightest bit.

“They were so close. I thought they would find me, Seokmin.” Joshua whispered into his shoulder, and Seokmin could feel his body start to tremble.

“I know. Me too.” Seokmin cupped the back of Joshua’s head and held him close, neither wanting to pull away.

“I can’t go back to sleep after that.” Joshua said, a laugh escaping his lips. Seokmin smiled weakly.

“Me either. I just need a shower, or coffee, or something.”

“Can I shower with you?”

Seokmin couldn’t tell if it was because he was tired, shaken up, or if it was because he was so numb to the reality he lived that this didn’t seem like an absurd request to him. He nodded, and untangled himself from Joshua to lead them both to the bathroom, where neither wasted time in undressing and turning the water on.

It wasn’t a thing of who had seen who naked and who hadn’t. Seokmin was unfazed when he stepped in and Joshua after, and he stayed unfazed even when Joshua turned around and rested his body on Seokmin’s chest.

Seokmin draped his arms around Joshua’s shoulders, Joshua’s hands coming up to interlock with his. They stood under the stream of water, eyes closed, simply enjoying each other’s company, silently vowing to never let a thing like that happen again. The water burned parts of his body, but he didn’t care, and it didn’t seem like Joshua did either.

“Are you still determined to help me?” Joshua mumbled from the front.

Seokmin thought for a moment. He risked his life, right there. If the police had emerged from that room with Joshua in tow, he was done for. He could never get his job back, hell, he would never get a job again. He had no chance of being anyone after being caught with a fugitive in his home, let alone sleeping and showering with him. All of this, after being caught, but what did he have now? Without Joshua, his life would be boring. Before Joshua, his life was boring. And he was too far in this to turn around now and go back to his boring lifestyle, because he was clearly so used to living lavish.

“I’m certain. I’ll protect you.” He mumbled back.

After a long while, they managed to fall back asleep. They slept tightly wound in each other, both too afraid to let go. Joshua immediately called the three who in their house a few nights ago, and he wouldn’t do anything until he was certain that would not happen again.

“So, why are we here and why was it so urgent?” Jeonghan speaks as he sits down across from Joshua. Joshua inhaled deeply.

“We need to start with this evidence or whatever. It’s too risky to just keep going with nothing.”

“We are working on it, though. I told you.” Junhui threw back to Joshua.

“But it needs to be now. We can’t wait any longer.”

“What happened that it’s so urgent?” Jeonghan jumped back in.

Joshua sighed and looked down, as if searching for the words. Seokmin spoke up for him. “Fucking police busted into my house at 1AM last night. They handcuffed me and stood by the door while more police raided my house, Josh was in the closet and thank god they were too dense to check there.” Everyone was silent. “I need shit to show them. I can’t keep pretending like I’m doing things. My chief put other people on the case because he knows I’m not doing anything. I need physical evidence. I need something.”

Jihoon next to him sighed and dropped his head. “Shit.”

“They came in here? You didn’t bother to contact us?” Jeonghan directed at Josh.

“You’re here now. And it’s not like this was a few days ago. This was a few hours ago. We have to do something.”

Everyone said nothing, thinking of things they could do. Seokmin peeked a look at Joshua, and he was shocked by the worried look he had. Joshua was never worried about anything. Joshua was always the man who had everything under his wing. To see Joshua worried in turn made Seokmin worried as well.

“The cameras!” Jeonghan exclaimed, making Junhui beside him jump. “There’s cameras inside the house. And outside. We could stage something. Stage you or someone pretending to be you go in.” Jeonghan nodded at his own suggestion.

Seokmin shrugged. “It doesn’t sound horrible.”

Jihoon raised his eyebrows once. “I mean, I think it’s all we have at this point. We can give it a shot. I still have the system installed on my computer, so we could find someone to do it- because I’m sure you don’t want to,” He spoke to Joshua, who looked smaller than usual in his chair. “So, we can ask Seungcheol. He’s ballsy. He will do it.”

Seokmin nodded. He did see Seungcheol as the type of person to do this, he just hoped he could play it off well.

“We will talk to him then. I’m sure for you, Joshua, he would be more than willing.” Junhui said. Seokmin couldn’t help but to agree that it was painfully true.

The rest of that night was Jihoon showing them the camera footage from his laptop. Right now, the whole house was barren. It was strange to see a lively house so unlived in, so empty.

Jihoon had said he would ask Seungcheol to go and to pretend to be Joshua for just a minute, enough recording so Seokmin can take it and use it as evidence. The way things actually went, however, was a story Seokmin was nowhere ready to deal with.

The three bust into their house a few days later, after Seokmin was told they had Seungcheol go back. Jeonghan looked frantic. Jihoon had his brows knit together and headed straight for the table and took out his computer.

“What’s going on? What happened?” Joshua ran over to Jeonghan who was nearly in tears.

“Something happened.” Jihoon stated. He didn’t turn around.

Joshua scoffed. “That’s a little vague.”

“Okay, something happened to Seungcheol. Better?”

Jihoon was obviously frustrated, so Joshua just shared a look with Seokmin and followed him to the table, everyone (excluding Jeonghan, who was having a breakdown on the couch) surrounded the computer.

“This is the footage. Before anything happens,” He says as he hit the play button to see no movement. “It’s worth noting that we came over here as soon as we figured something was wrong.” Jihoon sighed and cocked his head. He skipped ahead a few hours. “Seungcheol never came back.”

Seokmin’s stomach sank, and he made eye contact with Joshua over Jihoon’s bent figure. Junhui was on the other side of Joshua, watching.

“So, here is where he went in.” On the screen, Seungcheol was shown walking in. He had a bag on his back and he walked with a purpose, up the stairs, and down the hall. “Our plan was to have him disappear into a room that doesn’t have cameras, just stay in there for a while, screw some things up, then leave. Take nothing, leave nothing, just ruin everything.” Jihoon was silent as he skipped forward again. “But, later on when he is in the room, the outside cameras show this.” Seokmin now saw the driveway, with cars pulling in. Police cars. His heart beat quickened. “I don’t know why they are here. I don’t know how they knew. They don’t have this camera system, I know that for a fact.”

Seokmin saw officers pile out of the cars and walk in with their guns raised. Jihoon hit a button and the screen changed to a four-way split, on the upper right hand, it was Seungcheol closing the door to the room, coming out. On the bottom left, was the officers barging in.

Simultaneously as the officers came in, Seungcheol froze in place, and Seokmin thought the camera had broken he was so still. Seungcheol looked up to the camera once, slowly crouched down to take the bag off his shoulder, took his shoes off and put them in the bag, and started to run.

Jihoon inhaled sharply. No one said anything.

Seungcheol disappeared the view of the top right and suddenly he appeared in the top left screen. He ran past quickly, not stopping for anything, keeping his eyes peeled.

Jihoon pressed another button, and this time, it showed the hallway. The position of the camera in the ceiling allowed the viewer to view both left and right sides of the bend in the hall, and Seokmin immediately knew what would happen. Jihoon clicked something again, and the screen split top and bottom. The top showed the hallway bend, where Seungcheol was currently running to, and the bottom showed the same hallway, but from the end. Seungcheol ran through the bend, and Seokmin could see him stop short, immediately turn, and run the other way. He wanted to close his eyes.

The bottom screen was full view now. Seungcheol ran to the other end while a cop chased him, but Seungcheol was too fast. The cop suddenly whipped out something Seokmin had never used before, and was honestly afraid to, and pulled the trigger. Seungcheol’s body stiffened up and he fell to the ground.

“He got shot?!” Seokmin could hear Jeonghan whimper from the couch.

Jihoon shook his head. “Taser.”

They watched in horror as the cop mounted Seungcheol’s limp form and handcuffed him, forced him to stand, and led him out of the house. Jihoon hit one key that sent him back to the outside cameras, where Seungcheol was shoved into the back of a patrol car. Jihoon shut his laptop.

“Holy shit.” Seokmin breathed. “Seungcheol got arrested, oh my god.”

“What do we do, Joshua? He’s fucking in prison!” Jeonghan proclaimed, getting up from the couch. Seokmin could see tear tracks. “He can’t stay there!”

“I know, Jeonghan-”

“Joshua, you need to do something! You need to help him!” Jeonghan cried, clutching on to Joshua’s sleeve.

Joshua sighed, not knowing what to do, but when Jeonghan started crying again, Joshua just took his head and held him close, letting him cry into his shoulder. Joshua stayed quiet while Jeonghan shook, probably thinking of a plan, while Seokmin stood shocked, still trying to understand the reality what someone from Joshua’s team had been arrested. He really had no plan as to get Seungcheol out- if that is what Joshua was going to do at all. He stood there and watched as Jeonghan cried, and could only assume there was something much deeper between the two, but had no desire to ask about it.

Jihoon sat at the table, not doing anything besides holding his head in his hands, seeming to, for once, not have any answers. Junhui sat silent.

“What even happened? What tripped off the cops in the first place? There’s no way they could have known he was going there.” Seokmin pulled the seat out next to Jihoon. Joshua took Jeonghan to the couch and stayed there with him.

“We don’t know.” Junhui spoke, Jihoon didn’t seem like he was going to any time soon. “There was no one in the area, and we went later at night, but, they showed up after the door was opened. I just don’t know what they could have done, but they did it, and now…” He made a general arm gesture, letting Seokmin know what he was talking about, which he did.

“If they say anything to you, Seokmin,” Joshua spoke from his position still on the couch, “Tell us immediately. If they want to trust you, they will tell you they caught someone. Ask how. Find out everything. I’ll try to get Seungcheol back, okay?” The last sentence was spoken to Jeonghan, but also to everyone in the room to ease the tension.

“I’ll find out. In the meantime, all of you be careful and try to figure out what to do in terms of Seungcheol, don’t stray too far from home.”

The next morning, Seokmin was less than enthused to go to work. With his suit on and straightening his tie, he sat on the bed to lean down and press a chaste kiss to Joshua’s temple before he left for the day. Joshua grabbed his wrist before he could stand back up.

“Do you do that every morning?” Joshua asked groggily, not stirring, but trying to open his eyes.

Seokmin hesitated, almost embarrassed to answer, but hummed. Joshua smiled.

“After work, we are going to go somewhere. Someone I know can help us with Seungcheol.” And with that, he rolled over and closed his eyes again. Seokmin did not want to ask for any more details, especially at this hour.

His feet felt heavy as he carried them into the office. He was not looking forward to what anyone was going to say to him, especially about the revelation of someone being at the house. Truthfully, he wished he didn’t have to go in, but he knew, for the sake of Joshua and the other, he had to find out what was going on.

The air around him felt tense as he sat as his desk like someone was across from him, but alas, he was alone. His mind was blanking out, he wasn’t sure what he was supposed to do. His heart was racing with every footstep he heard outside his door, sure it was going to be someone to tell him the good (or bad) news. Finally, after agonizing moments of waiting, someone poked in to tell him to meet at the conference room.

He dragged himself up, hands on the verge of shaking, wishing he could turn around. He saw the chief through the room’s windows, and avoided eye contact until he sat.

“We have some progress on this case, finally,” He snuck a glance at Seokmin, which he quickly swept aside. “Someone has been arrested on the property of the house. As we all know, we have installed the security system that triggers when anything outside leading in is opened, and once the front door was, we rushed over.” The chief clicked on the projector to show grainy images of the person- Seungcheol- walking into the house. Seokmin felt his stomach tighten.

“Do you, Seokmin, recognize this person?”

Seokmin didn’t know how to answer this, one, because the picture was almost indecipherable, Seungcheol was just a mass of dark shapes with a skin tone and if Seokmin didn’t know, he wouldn’t think this was Seungcheol. Two, because if he said yes, this would prompt the team to at least expect more from Seokmin, something like physical proof, or maybe, find out where he came from. Seokmin still doesn’t know where their secret base was.

“No.” He answered after a beat.

“Hesitation, Seokmin.” His chief peered up at him from where he was hunched over the computer. “There was too much hesitation in that answer.”

“I don’t know, maybe if there was a clearer picture I would be able to see who it was, but, I can’t. So I do not recognize this person.”

“Unless you’re hiding something.” All heads turned to the voice that spoke, it was the other officer that had an interrogation with Seokmin in his own office.

“Like…?” Seokmin had a gut feeling about where this would go, wishing he could end this conversation immediately.

“Don’t you remember when we talked the other day? You said something that stuck in my head. You said someone was tracking you down. The murder was. How would you know? You must have had evidence to show that they are. How do you know that they are tracking you? There must have been something to show us. But nothing?”

“I never said that.”

“You did, though. And when police came to check your house for anyone, which there wasn’t, I’m surprised, but we found this.” He stood, and walked around the table, next to Seokmin. Seokmin didn’t look up, and tried his best to keep a straight face as he slapped down on the table a piece of paper. Specifically, the piece of paper that came with the robe. The messy handwriting, on a now crumpled piece of paper.

_Wait for me._

Seokmin wanted to throw up. He hadn’t remembered where that note had been when they found it, and he was disgusted with himself to say he didn’t notice it missing either.

“I don’t recognize this.”

“Sure you don’t, so we went and did some research, Chief.” He pulled out yet another piece of paper, and placed it down next to the note.

“When we arrested whoever was on the scene, I took it upon myself to try and find evidence of things that have been a little lived in to see where this came from, with such things like a notepad, pens. Luckily for us and this case, a paper full of multiple handwritings, and found one that just happened to match.”

The paper he put down was a scribbled mess, almost hard to read, but he could clearly distinguish names of foods, measurements, temperature.

Mingyu?

Seokmin was even surprised he remembered his name, but now he was shocked himself to see that the handwriting had been Mingyu’s, how they managed to reel the poor kid into doing that.

“The note that was in your house matches up to pieces of paper that were found around the Hong household, so, care to explain why I had done more for this case in a few days than you have in a few weeks?”

“Care to explain?” His chief held fierce eye contact. Seokmin’s palms started sweating, and his jaw locked in place, unable to say anything, making him look all the more suspicious.

“Lee! You had evidence in your house but hid it, hid it for what? Hid it to cover your own trail?”

“I don’t know what this is, I’ve never seen this.”

“Why was it in your house?” The voice behind him spoke again.

“Who were you to conduct a search of my house at 1AM? You’re not qualified to make those calls!” Seokmin stood up, facing the guy head on.

“He can make those calls if something is serious, like you holding a fugitive in your home.” The chief thundered.

“Why aren’t you denying it then? It was in your house. A piece of evidence that could have been used to further your side of the case but you didn’t turn it in.” He walked closer to Seokmin, both holding a venomous stare. “Because you’re hiding someone. I’m sure of it.”

“That’s what you think. You don’t know where that note came from. You don’t know anything about me or what happened in that house the first time, you don’t know anything about what you’re assuming.”

“The ransom note!” He suddenly called out, making Seokmin take a step back. “The ransom note we received after Seokmin closed the case resembles the handwriting on the paper that Seokmin had in his home.” He turned his head back to Seokmin. “How can you say you don’t know what’s going on?”

Seokmin could have screamed. He could have done anything right now, and opened his mouth before the chief cut him off.

“Seokmin, step outside for a minute.”

Seokmin looked at the chief, desperate for support, but only saw him looking closely at the papers strewn on the table. His heart dropped, and he knew what he needed to do.

He stepped out and closed the door after him, and headed to his office. He walked quickly, so quickly it was almost a run, and made sure to keep his footsteps light, passing by the unused corridors so no one would see him run.

He made it to his office finally, his hands not cooperating as they were shaking too hard, but he managed to grab his things and head out, not before locking his office and taping a note onto the closed door. He swiftly left the building.

Seokmin was fast, but the record time that he did this in, he never realized he was so fast. He sped out of the parking lot and only grabbed his phone out of his pocket when he was a safe distance away from the building. He turned onto the highway to avoid main road traffic lights.

“Hello?” He heard a dainty voice from the receiver, heart clenching in relief when he realized who he was doing this for.

“Joshua.” Seokmin spoke urgently, slowly pressing harder and harder on the gas pedal.

“Seokmin? What’s wrong?” Joshua sounded panicked now, and Seokmin cursed, he didn’t want Joshua to panic.

“Did you see the guy already? I don’t think it can wait.”

“Yes, I did actually, I thought it would have been better to go alone. He says he doesn’t know what he can do but he can try.”

“Good, because we won’t have time anymore.”

“Seokmin, what’s happening, what’s going on?”

“Joshua, we need to go. We need to leave. They know what’s going on down at the station. The night they came, they took the note in the box with the robe, they have it, they know it’s yours, we need to go.” Seokmin sped down the highway, too afraid to slow down even a bit.

He heard Joshua gasp, take a moment, then reply. “Okay, okay, I’ll put stuff together.”

“Please, Joshua, do it fast. I’m on my way home. Tell someone to bring a car, we can’t leave with mine.”

“Okay, I’ll call Jihoon. Please hurry.”

He hung up immediately, Seokmin felt relieved knowing he would keep his word, and was probably already talking to Jihoon. He kept constantly looking over his shoulder, aware that at any minute, he could be surrounded by police cars, so reluctantly, he lifted his foot off the gas and cruised at 80, trying to reach Joshua as fast as possible.

His heart was in his throat when he came off the exit and made his way to the complex. He threw his car into a spot and rushed out, not bothering to take his briefcase or suit jacket, only his phone.

He threw open the door and rushed to the room to see Joshua, who was turned in shock, most likely by the sudden burst of the door. He was packing things into a small bag, one for the both of them it looked to be, it didn’t bother Seokmin in the slightest.

Joshua sprang up and wrapped his arms around Seokmin’s waist, and Seokmin threw his around his shoulders, and caressed his head with one hand.

Joshua was trembling, but trying to contain it, Seokmin could tell.

“It’s okay,” He whispered hastily into his hair. “We’re going to go, it’s okay.”

Joshua slowly unwrapped his arms and looked at Seokmin. Seokmin could see tears threatening to spill from his eyes, but he wasn’t going to let them. Without thinking twice, Seokmin gently placed his hands on either side of Joshua’s face and pulled him in, kissing him quickly, but it felt as if the longest time had gone by. The last time Seokmin had kissed Joshua was when he showed up at his house in the pouring rain.

“Got everything?” Seokmin looked down and Joshua followed suit, and he nodded.

“Basically. Some clothes, other essentials,”

“The robe?” Joshua nodded. “The cologne?” Joshua nodded again. “Good.” Seokmin hugged him again, wondering when he became so enamored.

The door burst open again, scaring them both, but saw no one, only a cry from the front. “Let’s go!” Jihoon.

They rushed out, Joshua with the bag on his back and Seokmin keeping a sharp eye out for anyone watching. Jihoon was faster than the both of them, throwing open the passenger side door of a black SUV and climbing in while Seokmin and Joshua took the back. Junhui was driving.

They pulled out of the lot where Jun hadn’t parked and instead just pulled over and waited, and they all whipped their heads around at the sound of sirens heading their direction.

“Idiots!” Jihoon yelled. “Get down!” Joshua pulled Seokmin’s head forward so they were shielded by the back seat and no one could see them, and Jihoon was watching calmly from the rearview mirror. “They’re pulling in,” Jihoon was narrating. “They’re getting out to your house, Seokmin. Step on it Junhui.” And they were off. “You’re good, guys.”

Joshua had his head in Seokmin’s shoulder’s, both of their hearts pounding. Seokmin closed his eyes and breathed in deeply, thinking about what he had just done. Broken the law? Yes, a million times yes. Turned his back on his moral beliefs? A million times yes. Would he do it again? For Joshua, a million times yes.

They were on the highway now, the worry seeming to slip from his bones like clothes after a long day. He rested his head back, remembering the note that was left on his office door, wondering if that’s what prompted them to hunt him down.

_Now or never. Good luck finding us._

Seokmin kissed Joshua’s temple. Now, he didn’t seem to be afraid of the outcome, he didn’t seem to want to turn his back to change the time, or the way things had played out. He doesn’t think, even if he could turn back time, he would turn Joshua in. Even back then, when he couldn’t do it, he was sure that he could never, not even if he had the chance. There was something about the aura around that man that pulled Seokmin in, something that held him very tight, but he wasn’t complaining.

Joshua looked up at him, and they made eye contact. Neither of them smiled, but both of them knew that it was over, for the most part. They leaned back together, Joshua getting comfortable under Seokmin’s arm, Seokmin looking out the windshield. Maybe now, Seokmin can learn to not take too many second guesses, or take too long to make a decision that can impact the rest of his life. Maybe now, he doesn’t have to be bound down to one thing.

He looked at the road and the scenery ahead of him. Finally, the sky was clear.

**Author's Note:**

> listen,, i dont want to do this AGAIN but if i ever feel the need, i made it so it segways perfectly into a trilogy BUT IM NOT SAYING IT WILL THIS TOOK MY ENTIRE SOUL TO WRITE I MUST GET IT BACK FIRST  
> anyway yeah i never said what happened to seungcheol but we just assume he gets out eventually idk  
> please leave comments i love reading them or leave me comments on my twitter [@_ilstagram] either is accepted thank u for reading i love u all goodbye for now!


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